Samsung Galaxy S II - Random pics/vids in my gallery?

[TekNinja81]

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Hey guys, posted this at the AndroidCentral forums but they're pretty slow at responding there. Figured I'd ask here since I got better help last time too.

I seem to have random photos and videos appearing in my Gallery. From what I can tell, some of the pics may be part of a game or an ad or something. To the best of my knowledge I've never actually seen any of these pop up before though, and the stranger part is a number of videos that have shown up just recently that actually appear to be web/TV ads. One of them was a Samsung phone ad, so maybe it was hidden somewhere on the phone for demo purposes? But the others are definitely web/TV ads of some sort, and again, I've never seen these before.

These files tend to present themselves mostly after having rebooted the phone, or connecting as USB Mass Storage; makes sense as this triggers the phone's Media Scanner.

It's simple enough to delete the files, but I'm wondering if they may be required or generated by an app I've got installed. Is there an easy way to track where they're coming from/block more from coming in without rooting the phone? Viewing the file properties in Gallery does not show their locations. One thing I found is a TapJoy folder on my phone which seemed to have some ad-like images in it, but those particular ones haven't yet shown up in my gallery...

 

[SweetOnion]

Hey guys, posted this at the AndroidCentral forums but they're pretty slow at responding there. Figured I'd ask here since I got better help last time too. I seem to have random photos and videos appearing in my Gallery. From what I can tell, some of the pics may be part of a game or an ad or something. To the best of my knowledge I've never actually seen any of these pop up before though, and the stranger part is a number of videos that have shown up just recently that actually appear to be web/TV ads. One of them was a Samsung phone ad, so maybe it was hidden somewhere on the phone for demo purposes? But the others are definitely web/TV ads of some sort, and again, I've never seen these before. These files tend to present themselves mostly after having rebooted the phone, or connecting as USB Mass Storage; makes sense as this triggers the phone's Media Scanner. It's simple enough to delete the files, but I'm wondering if they may be required or generated by an app I've got installed. Is there an easy way to track where they're coming from/block more from coming in without rooting the phone? Viewing the file properties in Gallery does not show their locations. One thing I found is a TapJoy folder on my phone which seemed to have some ad-like images in it, but those particular ones haven't yet shown up in my gallery...

If the file properties from within the Gallery show you file size, I would recommend connecting the device to your computer and then doing a regular file search. Leave the fields blank and just hit search... it will return all files as a result. Then, sort the list by Size. Scroll to the size of the file shown in the Gallery, and then confirm you have the correct file by viewing it.... if it is correct, check the location, and perhaps the path will provide you some insight... hope this helps.

 

[TekNinja81]

If the file properties from within the Gallery show you file size, I would recommend connecting the device to your computer and then doing a regular file search. Leave the fields blank and just hit search... it will return all files as a result. Then, sort the list by Size. Scroll to the size of the file shown in the Gallery, and then confirm you have the correct file by viewing it.... if it is correct, check the location, and perhaps the path will provide you some insight... hope this helps.

Good call, I'll try that. I find the interface with the S2 to be very slow over USB, but I can't imagine it being too terrible just doing a file search. Hopefully the folder the files are located in will give me an idea where the heck this stuff is coming from. Having minute+ long ad videos randomly show up on my phone is a little concerning...

 

[SweetOnion]

Good call, I'll try that. I find the interface with the S2 to be very slow over USB, but I can't imagine it being too terrible just doing a file search. Hopefully the folder the files are located in will give me an idea where the heck this stuff is coming from. Having minute+ long ad videos randomly show up on my phone is a little concerning...

Cool, good luck. My buddy has this phone as well, I will ask him if he's seeing similar issues for you.

 

[jc100]

Have you browsed to websites that might be delivering the content to your phone? Have you checked to see if the browser options have something that does this rather than showing the ads in browser perhaps?

 

[silvrsurfr]

Have you browsed to websites that might be delivering the content to your phone? Have you checked to see if the browser options have something that does this rather than showing the ads in browser perhaps?

This happens too - some of the websites you goto can download pictures without you knowing. One other thing to realize as well, depends what kind of apps you have downloaded. if you look at the permissions you grant, some of the apps are extensive. Gives the app developers full rights to internet, SD card, phone book, gps setting, etc etc. Something easily could have been downloaded via apps.

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